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Monday, 23 May 2011

What is ‘back to primal’?

So what it ‘back to primal’?

To me it means trying to get back to my primal roots and live life like my pre-agriculture ancestors. These hunter-gatherers had strong, flexible and enduring bodies; they roamed the landscape freely in search for food, water and shelter. Some days they could easily find enough food to last the next three days, and sometimes they would not find food for three days, yet they did this with ease. Their life has been described as the “original affluence” they had plenty of meat, vegetables, nuts and seeds to eat, and often spent less than half the time we do working. They spent their spare time playing, resting, and socialising. When they did work it was hard; lifting and carrying awkward objects, throwing rocks and spears, moving their own bodies through the landscape, sprinting from danger. It is this daily use of their bodies which made them ready for anything. This is this that I strive to emulate in my daily life, that is what back to primal is all about. For a guide to primal life see this link.

I want my body to be strong, flexible and enduring; I want to be able to fast for three days if necessary (and still remain functioning), I want to play, socialise and enjoy life more. I don’t want to become a blob on the couch, covered in crumbs, whose only socialisation is with a pixelated character.

Back to primal will not just be about my journey, and the way in which I try to live my life. I intend to fill this blog with interesting primal resources which everyone can use in their own back to primal adventure. This isn’t a diet, exercise program, or destination, it’s a journey, a road to travel. So if you not enjoying it don’t just struggle on, find a new path - one that suits you. There is more than one way to skin a rabbit, cook it, and eat it.

My own road to primal life has been slow and gradual, I give up more grains as I go, my workouts become less structured, and involve new elements as I find them and I tackle new areas of primal life such as fasting (I never thought it would be so easy).

I encourage everyone who reads this blog to find what they like, what works for them and run with it, search other blogs and use what fits you, discard was does not. And finally add something uniquely your own. Learn something new every day, add new, useful things to your life and subtract away those which are not useful. Grow every day, change your goals and opinions and new information comes to light, reinforce beliefs with additional evidence.